Floating up Fuji

It was a fitting end to a magnificent season of skiing. Like every tourist who views the sweeping curve of Fuji-san from the passing train, I'd admired the beauty of this mountain for some time. As a summer hiking destination, it doesn't really excite me. Huge crowds, expensive, and a mountain that shares its beauty best from afar. As a ski line though it does hold some allure. Wide, sweeping slopes, and the chance to impress almost any Japanese person you talk to 😀

I had a small window between organising my life in Myoko and picking up Mum in  Takayama. The weather forecast complied, and I drove across Japan in beautiful warm spring weather. It's quite something to get closer and closer to the mountain, and what looks relatively small but beautiful from a distance, becomes very impressive from up close. I watched the sun set across Fuji from above Motosu Lake, and then drove up to below the Fujinomiya toll-road for a pleasant nights sleep.

 

Fuji seems to hold a reputation for being dangerous out of season, so I was feeling focused as I woke to the sight of the huge white cone looking steeper than it does from far away. I'd expected to find a few backcountry touring types in the 5th station car park, but arrived to 100+ cars and a range of people from the experienced to the very inexperienced. Temperatures were marginal, and so I packed slowly to let the snow soften a little. Unfortunately the snow coverage on this (Southern) side of the mountain was not as extensive as I expected, and so the first 400m of vertical were summer trail mud and rocks. From there it was a relatively straightforward walk in crampons to the lip of the crater.

By this stage the sun was beginning to soften the frozen snow, but despite there being almost no wind 2000m below, strong gusts were ripping across the peak. By all accounts this is typical of Fuji, and I probably had conditions as good as could be expected. I walked around the crater, climbed the peak and chatted with a few other climbers. I had met another Japanese skier with DPS Wailers on the way up, and we decided to enjoy the ski down together. The ski down was a pleasant 35 degrees or so, although the snow was beginning to break up and melt away. From the crater I had seen the other ski routes on the North and East faces, and I suspect that on a day like this they would have been far more enjoyable from a skiing perspective. 

The climb and ski were relatively straightforward and went without much thought, but back at the car I did have a few quiet moments of reflection on the season. From being a beginner on-piste skier, I'd managed to drag myself to the level of being able to feel comfortable climbing and skiing a mountain like Fuji by myself. Not much in the scheme of things, but definitely something I felt proud of.